Caspers Reflects on Term as USMEF Chairman

Caspers Reflects on Term as USMEF Chairman

Iowa pork producer Jon Caspers will conclude his one-year term as USMEF chairman later this week at the USMEF Strategic Planning Conference in Denver. Caspers says that while 2009 has presented some extremely difficult challenges, he takes much pride in the organization’s efforts to develop global markets for U.S. pork and beef.

“It’s certainly been a very rewarding year, though very challenging. Probably the most challenging year USMEF has experienced in some time,” Caspers said, “Not only with the global economic situation, but also with market closures due to H1N1 and trying to further open beef markets in Asia. We continue to work very hard on those things, with some degree of success. We need to continue down that path and keep building market share around the world.”

While Caspers is a former president of the National Pork Producers Council with an extensive history of livestock industry involvement, he said his time as a USMEF officer offered many new experiences and fresh insights into a wide range of issues.

Jon Caspers concludes his term as USMEF chairman this week

“In the past I’ve probably been more involved on the trade policy side and in political issues,” he said. “So the USMEF promotional activities are fairly new to me and it’s been quite a learning experience to see how USMEF adapts the different types of promotions to different countries and different cultures, and to different markets according what level of penetration we have achieved. It appears to me that USMEF is pretty adept at making sure producers get the biggest possible bang for their buck.”

While pork exports have declined slightly from the record-setting pace of 2008, Caspers is still encouraged by this year’s results and by the positive impact exports continue to have on pork producers’ bottom line.

“When we exported almost 25 percent of our pork production in 2008, I think it was really quite a wakeup call for the industry,” he said. “Obviously, we had a banner year in 2008 and there was some sense that it would be hard to duplicate that again in 2009. But we’re still going to have our second-largest year ever for exports, and I think there’s still a lot of opportunity for growth out there.”

Caspers added that it’s been very gratifying to work so with so many different agricultural sectors during his time with USMEF, and that he appreciates the support feedgrain and oilseed producers have shown for expanding meat exports.

“The corn and soybean producers obviously recognize the value that a healthy U.S. livestock industry offers for their products,” he said. “And I think they’ve demonstrated very clearly the confidence they have in USMEF’s programs and its ability to grow exports of beef and pork.” 

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The U.S. Meat Export Federation (www.USMEF.org) is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S.  red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, corn and soybean checkoff programs.

For more information, contact Jim Herlihy at jherlihy@usmef.org.

USMEF complies with all equal opportunity, non-discrimination and affirmative action measures applicable to it by contract, government rule or regulation or as otherwise provided by law.

Caspers Reflects on Term as USMEF Chairman

Iowa pork producer Jon Caspers will conclude his one-year term as USMEF chairman later this week at the USMEF Strategic Planning Conference in Denver. Caspers says that while 2009 has presented some extremely difficult challenges, he takes much pride in the organization’s efforts to develop global markets for U.S. pork and beef.

“It’s certainly been a very rewarding year, though very challenging. Probably the most challenging year USMEF has experienced in some time,” Caspers said, “Not only with the global economic situation, but also with market closures due to H1N1 and trying to further open beef markets in Asia. We continue to work very hard on those things, with some degree of success. We need to continue down that path and keep building market share around the world.”

While Caspers is a former president of the National Pork Producers Council with an extensive history of livestock industry involvement, he said his time as a USMEF officer offered many new experiences and fresh insights into a wide range of issues.

Jon Caspers concludes his term as USMEF chairman this week

“In the past I’ve probably been more involved on the trade policy side and in political issues,” he said. “So the USMEF promotional activities are fairly new to me and it’s been quite a learning experience to see how USMEF adapts the different types of promotions to different countries and different cultures, and to different markets according what level of penetration we have achieved. It appears to me that USMEF is pretty adept at making sure producers get the biggest possible bang for their buck.”

While pork exports have declined slightly from the record-setting pace of 2008, Caspers is still encouraged by this year’s results and by the positive impact exports continue to have on pork producers’ bottom line.

“When we exported almost 25 percent of our pork production in 2008, I think it was really quite a wakeup call for the industry,” he said. “Obviously, we had a banner year in 2008 and there was some sense that it would be hard to duplicate that again in 2009. But we’re still going to have our second-largest year ever for exports, and I think there’s still a lot of opportunity for growth out there.”

Caspers added that it’s been very gratifying to work so with so many different agricultural sectors during his time with USMEF, and that he appreciates the support feedgrain and oilseed producers have shown for expanding meat exports.

“The corn and soybean producers obviously recognize the value that a healthy U.S. livestock industry offers for their products,” he said. “And I think they’ve demonstrated very clearly the confidence they have in USMEF’s programs and its ability to grow exports of beef and pork.” 

###

The U.S. Meat Export Federation (www.USMEF.org) is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S.  red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, corn and soybean checkoff programs.

For more information, contact Jim Herlihy at jherlihy@usmef.org.

USMEF complies with all equal opportunity, non-discrimination and affirmative action measures applicable to it by contract, government rule or regulation or as otherwise provided by law.